Near the train station, this space was the site of heavy bombing during the Second World War. In the 1970s, the project for a motorway was drawn up, but the project was abandoned, nature took over, and it is now the site of exceptional biodiversity.

Observatorium illustrates this story through a “fairy tale of progress”: “If a project for a highway eventually allowed nature to thrive, our project will allow people to enter the urban spaces of the future.” The collective has created a massive wooden sculpture representing a stretch of highway, where we might one day invent a simple and pleasant life.

Work created for ESTUAIRE 2012 as part of a public commission by the ministère de La Culture et de La Communication – DRAC des Pays de la Loire. For the centenary of La LPO, in association with le Service des espaces verts et de l’environnement, le grand projet de ville and l’Atelier ruelle.
Created with the support of La fondation Edf for le groupe Edf and of le groupe Giboire, official partners, with technical assistance from les Ateliers Perrault Frères. Special thanks ECSB.